Maoists today claimed to have killed one of the four policemen kidnapped by them from Lakhisarai district of Bihar but there was no confirmation by the police.

Avinash, who claimed to be a Maoist spokesman, telephoned PTI office here, claiming that one of the hostages had been killed after the expiry of the deadline for freeing eight ultras in jail in return for safe release of the hostages.

Director General of Bihar Police Neelmani, however, said there was no evidence of the ultras taking the extreme step.

"Search operations have been intensified for the hostages," he said.

Avinash also threatened to kill the three other policemen held captive by them by 10:00 am tomorrow if the state government failed to comply with its demand.

Maoists had kidnapped sub-inspectors Rupesh Kumar and Abhay Prasad Yadav, BMP havildar Ehtesham Khan and BMP ASI Lucas Tete after the encounter in Kajra police station area on Sunday, which had left eight policemen dead. .

Despite indication by the Bihar government that it might consider holding talks with the ultras for securing release of the kidnapped policemen, no response from the ultras reached the state police headquarters, official sources said.

"We may think of holding talks, but with whom at this stage? Should we talk to people in the air? They (Maoists) have not officially approached us as yet on any demand," DGP Neelmani had said yesterday.

Official sources said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was also monitoring the progress of the operation with the CRPF using helicopters to search for the policemen.

Meanwhile, several political parties and organisations, besides the families of the abducted policemen appealed to the Maoists to release them unconditionally.

The chief minister held a high-level meeting with top officials to discuss the measures taken for securing release of the kidnapped policemen.

Principal Secretary (Home) Amir Subhani, the DGP and Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) P K Thakur attended the meeting, officials said.

The family members of the kidnapped policemen tried to meet the chief minister again today seeking his intervention for the release of the hostages.